US Navy photo
It’s tricky to get first-hand information about Navy SEALs, so I read everything about them I could find while writing my novel Bridging Two Hearts. I examined histories, novels and memoirs, as well as The Official United States Navy Seal Workout, revised edition. (I couldn’t do anything in it except the stretches . . . )
The best book by far was Chuck Pfarrar’s Warrier Soul, a beautifully written memoir of a very difficult life.But the most poignant story was told in Howard Wasdin and Stephen Templin’s controversial Seal Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy Seal Sniper.
Wasdin was involved in the infamous Black Hawk Down tragedy in Mogadishu, Somalia. Prior to that firefight, he spent several months in Somalia and part of his job involved patrolling the roof of their safe house with his partner. The first night, a wretched scent filled the air. They pulled kerchiefs over their noses and tried to find what had died and left such a stench.
They found it: a teenaged boy with an amputated leg and missing a foot, full of gangrene and left to sleep on the rooftop of a hovel not far away.
The kindness of Navy SEALs–while they were there on a deadly mission, they couldn’t stand by while a kid suffered within eyesight. Howard and his partner approached the command: could they take medical supplies and clean up the kid’s wounds?
No. Doing so would compromise the mission.
Every night they pulled something over their noses. Every night the teenager got worse.
A week into this, they took matters into their own hands. Wasdin, his partner and a sympathetic medic dressed in black put on their balaclavas, picked up their machine guns and skulked into the night.
They did a “hard entry” –kicked in the front door, flexicuffed the boy’s family and forced them, gently, against a back wall in the house. While the family watched with eyes round as saucers, one of SEALs climbed on the roof and retrieved the boy.
Laying him on the floor so the parents could see what they were doing, they scrubbed the boy’s wounds with betadine. They had to put their hands over the kid’s mouth so his screams wouldn’t alert the neighborhood. They gave him IV antibiotics, bandaged his wounds, and gave him injections to stop the infection.
“Then we vanished.”
They did the same a week later. The family put out their hands to be handcuffed as soon as the men entered. An elderly woman brought tea in gratitude and then held out her hands. This time the Americans brought an interpreter to explain how to care for the boy, who was much improved. They left the family with amoxicillin for ten days, but the medic also noticed the boy had scurvy. The next day Wasdin brought a bag of oranges.
Eventually, their CO told the CIA that the boy was related to one of the local “assets,” even though the family had nothing to do with the Americans. They got him a pair of crutches and Howard requested a wheelchair.
The family was beyond grateful.
Wasdin ended his story this way: “It was my most successful op in Somalia, and I had to disobey direct orders to get it done. Better to ask forgiveness than permission.”
They may have to act as steely-eyed killers, but the kindness of Navy SEALs can also be an extraordinary gift.
What do you make of this story?
Hello Michelle,
As the wife of a now retired Army counterpart of the Navy Seal (Special Forces soldier); this does not surprise me in the least. It is not as out of character as one might think. My husband was a medic before he became a Warrant officer. The medics are all trained as combat medics and they are all good at what they do. One of the ways they have honed their skills is to provide clinics for the local nationals wherever there is an American presence. It is also one of the ways they make inroads with local populations to cause many among them to rethink any anti-American sentiments they might have. As someone who hobnobs regularly in Special Operations circles, I can tell you that at the end of the day, these cold, steely-eyed killers they are just men. Every one of them is someone’s husband, someone’s father, brother, son, fiancé or best friend. Many of them are Christians. (David, a soldier king, was a man after God’s own heart.) Special Operations guys tend to be “outside the box” thinkers and they are notorious for doing some unorthodox things in an unorthodox manner. This is one such incident, one of many incidents untold. What they did is no different than a Christian disobeying the law to do what is right, and in so doing, causing those who see this witness to rethink their opinions about Jesus Christ.
The Special Forces soldiers have a saying when they talk among themselves about the perception of civilians and even those in the military regarding Special Operations: “The Myth still lives.”
Love it, Klasko!
Thanks for this story Michelle.
Now I have to go, because I seem to have something in my eye causing it to water.
And Hi to Klasko!
AJ! Thanks for the hello. I miss all the WMB folks and knowing I could lurk there if I wanted to see what was going on. Sorry Michelle for the brief hijacking of your blog. 😉